Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven scoreless innings to become the AL’s second winner of 10 games and the AL West-leading Texas Rangers defeated the second-ranked Houston Astros 5-2 on Saturday. the second place.
Eovaldi (10-3) struck out five and limited the Astros to two singles, but he also drew a season-high four walks and threw 58 of 97 pitches for strikes. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.64 with his fifth start this season when he didn’t allow a run.
Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Josh Jung, the three Rangers infielders selected by fans as All-Star starters, each drove in one run.
Switch-hitting catcher Jonah Heim, also voted this week to start for the American League team on July 11 in Seattle, had three hits and scored one run.
After Josh Sborz pitched a perfect eighth, reliever Joe Barlow allowed Kyle Tucker’s two-run home run with two outs in the ninth. His 12th home run of the season came just after Alex Bregman doubled on a fly ball down the right-field line that struck first baseman Nathaniel Lowe’s glove.
Will Smith then came on to get the final out for his 15th save in 16 chances.
Newly acquired hard-pitch reliever Aroldis Chapman, who joined the Rangers a day after being traded from Kansas City, was in the bullpen but never warmed up.
Astros rookie starter Hunter Brown (6-5) struck out six and allowed three runs and 10 hits in four innings, the shortest of the right-hander’s 16 starts this season. The 10 hits were a season high, with Semien, Seager and Heim combining for seven of them.
With two games remaining in the four-game series, the Rangers (50-33) restored the five-game lead they had before losing Game 1 5-3 on Friday night.
While two-time NL Cy Young Award winner and since injured Jacob deGrom was the standout addition to the Rangers’ rotation last winter, Texas native Eovaldi signed a $34 million contract for two years that includes a conditional player option for the 2025 season. Eovaldi is now tied for the second-most wins in the majors, trailing only Tampa Bay left-hander Shane McClanahan’s 11.
Texas moved ahead to get Seager’s third-inning single for his 49th RBI in 51 games played.
Heim had a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on Travis Jankowski’s single, who then stole a base before coming home on Semien’s second of three singles. Adolis Garcia and Jung had back-to-back RBI doubles to lead off the seventh and make it 4-0.